How long should it take to reach a verdict?

The quips around the courthouse were it would take seven minutes to convict Jovan Underdue.

Others expected a longer wait – but not much longer.

Why?

The first-degree murder case against the 33-year-old defendant included a loaded handgun recovered under his girlfriend’s mattress with three fired bullets (all .38 caliber like those used in the murders); state drivers’ IDs and keys of the victims at his home; more .38 caliber bullets in a box at his home; surveillance video of him walking on Delaware Avenue near the crime scene; and the DNA of one victim matching blood found on Underdue’s shirt.

Jurors started deliberating just before 1 p.m. They reached a verdict by 4:30 p.m. And that was after they ate lunch. Under any estimation, it was hardly a long wait – and yet it was actually longer than some observers expected.

“Trying to read anything the jury does during deliberations is a tough proposition,” Underdue’s attorney, Lee Kindlon, stated. “I’m sure every lawyer in America would say that the jury should deliberate until you agree with their point of view. Reading anything else into it can drive you nuts.”

The jury’s three-and-a-half hour deliberation in the Underdue trial is no record. It is actually less than at least one recent murder trial earlier this year where jurors deliberated less than three hours.